'This could happen to us': Hanover-Adams students raise voices against gun violence

Gina Montalto, a 14-year-old victim of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, participated in color guard.

Alexis Faisal, a junior at Hanover High School, could relate.

Knowing that someone like her was murdered at school was shocking to Faisal, who held Montalto's portrait and read her biography during a planned walkout at Hanover High School on Friday morning.

On the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School, students across the country planned to walk out of school to rally against gun violence. This comes as part of the student-led movement in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that has seen teenagers speak out to demand changes in gun laws.

More:York County students join national movement calling for stricter gun laws

More:50 years ago, after MLK's death, York High students set an example for Parkland students

Around 50 students at Hanover High School organized a somber ceremony in the morning, while students from Adams County high schools held an emphatic afternoon protest at Lincoln Square in Gettysburg. 

Some students at Hanover High School were disappointed when school was closed on March 14. That's because that date, the one-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting, was set as the first national student walkout.

MORE:'One person can start a movement': How Hanover-Adams schools joined national walkouts

As a result, six students at Hanover High School spent weeks organizing a ceremony to honor the lives of the Parkland victims with the administration's OK. Principal Catherine Houck sent a letter to families in the school district on April 17 about how the vigil was arranged to take place during students' "flex" period with student safety in mind.

The high school campus was closed and secured by the Hanover Borough Police Department.

"The Hanover Public School District is committed to providing an avenue for students to express their concerns in a safe and organized manner," Houck said in the letter.

During the event, junior Malcolm Ellis said he was "tired of being silent" and wanted to use his voice for the 17 Parkland victims who no longer could.

"As kids, we are told we don't know what we're talking about, that our opinions don't matter because we're too young to understand," he said. "Yet we've taken it upon ourselves to not only become educated, but we've also become active members of our community."

Standing around the school's flagpole, students held signs with messages like "No more thoughts and prayers" and "Our lives matter more than a NRA donation."

Students took turns reading poignant biographies of the 17 victims at Stoneman Douglas, from Jaime Guttenberg to Alyssa Alhadeff. Each came with a detailed portrait of the victim, which Faisal found online, and an orange crush rose. Orange is the designated color for gun violence awareness.

"Remember their faces," Ellis said. "Remember their names, all 17 of them. We want to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Senior Henry Smith pointed to the availability of assault weapons, calling it a common factor in recent mass shootings in the United States.

"It is not out of our reach to take common sense measures to make sure that these guns never get in the hands of people that can kill 17 people in six minutes ever again," Smith said.

RELATED:Gettysburg College: #MarchForOurLives protest, walkouts will not impact admissions

For junior Elaine Greenfield, the Parkland school shooting was different from other mass shootings.

"I think a lot of the shootings that happened in previous years, we were all pretty young when it happened, so it wasn’t as much of a shock for us as it was (in) Parkland," she said. "When Parkland happened, it’s kind of a realization that this could happen to us. We’re 16, 17 years old, and this is happening in high schools across America."

Students walked to the administration building, laying down the signs, portraits and the 17 roses on a brick wall. An 18th rose was placed for Jaelynn Willey, the 16-year-old victim in a recent shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland.

Students grew emotional and embraced each other during a moment of silence. 

"Hopefully, our generation will end the gun violence epidemic," Ellis said. 

The Gettysburg protest, contrasting the solemnity of Hanover's vigil, dialed up the fury.

Organized by two Littlestown students, junior Whitney Riegel and senior Samantha Rudisill, the event attracted about a dozen students from three area high schools and two colleges.

Spectators held signs saying "Hear our voices" and "We should be holding hands not guns" as students took turns expressing their thoughts, reading speeches and reciting slam poems to the fellow protesters and onlookers.

Riegel read a poem titled "Day of Love Turns to War," where she began by chronicling the Valentine's Day overshadowed by the Parkland tragedy on Feb. 14.

"We live in a war zone," Riegel said. "We live in a country where students are conditioned to push all that they can in front of the door to not let the shooter in."

The event was not without some friction, as one man spoke up to say that guns do not kill people, people kill people, before going on his way. Prior to the ceremony, one individual confronted the students to tell them he thought the country already had appropriate laws for gun background checks, according to Riegel.

"Our actions for this isn’t to take away someone’s guns, and we continuously expressed that with him, and he just didn’t seem as if he was open to hearing other people’s opinions," Riegel said.

READ:Are AR-15s assault rifles? Locals react to debate

Riegel and Rudisill attended the March for Our Lives protest on March 24 in Washington D.C. The survivors of the Parkland shooting served as inspiration for them.

"They’re extremely courageous," Riegel said. "They started out from just doing it right after the shooting to organizing their own march in Washington D.C., and, on top of that, they’ve influenced so many millennials to do their own walkout."

The ceremony featured Alexis Watters, a senior at Littlestown, singing Katy Perry's "Roar," and concluded with a chant of "Vote! Vote! Vote!"

The Parkland shooting made some students question how safe they felt in school. Smith explained that safety should not be a concern for students.

"Every single student should not have to walk into school and wonder, ‘Is a student going to kill me today?’" Smith said. "Every student should be able to walk into school and solely focus on learning."

Students were aware that many people in the community and the country will underestimate them and their efforts because they are teenagers. 

"To quote Judas Priest, you don’t have to be old to be wise," Greenfield said.